Should you pull Marcus?

While Marcus is undoubtedly the strongest Plant carry on CN at the moment, when deciding whether to pull her or not, you must take into consideration her team building options. Her Insight 3 requires at least two or more allies to be of the Plant/Intellect/Spirit Afflatus in order to trigger her passive, which will limit her team building options, especially for 3-People content.

However, it’s important to take note that every new patch after 1.7 has at least one character that greatly benefits Marcus. If you either already have a good cast of the aforementioned Afflatuses, or if you plan to pull for two or more of the upcoming characters listed in the team building section, Marcus is guaranteed to be a great investment. She has a high focus on raids (Mane’s Bulletin), which truly shows through her passive, “Annotation”.

Marcus has a unique talent for “reading”. From books to places to objects to people… everything can be captured. This constant excess and overflow of information, however, always brought her trouble. It turned Marcus into a person who is always overthinking, and has a difficult time with decision-making and social interactions.

This all changed after the Flannan Islands incident. Marcus recorded in detail everything that happened there, which earned her a ticket to the Foundation and a place under the protective wing of a mentor: Madam Hofmann. With the help of her new mentor, Marcus no longer was tormented by decision-making or complex interpersonal relationships. She could focus on what she’s actually good at — reading. The future seemed bright.

Yet, the future is not as predictable as a book that we can check the pages ahead. When the curtain fell in Vienna, Marcus saw herself under the difficult position of having to read this complex, terrifying and beautiful world alone. But she will keep going.

Marcus is a 6-star character from the Plant Afflatus, a Mental Damage dealer. Her mechanic revolves around the new [Annotate] mechanic and its gain of [Eureka]. To give a simple explanation of [Annotate] first: it’s an ability you’ll need to inflict on your enemy, in this case through your passive. At the start of the round, if no enemies have the [Annotate] status, it’ll be inflicted on an enemy, prioritizing a boss. Every time they take an action, you, the caster, will gain one [Eureka], up to 3 times. It’s not the only way you gain [Eureka]; you also get it from your Ultimate. If you have more than 2 [Eureka], you will spend all of it to randomly enhance your own incantations. It’s also worth noting that the enemy with [Annotate] will take more damage, as almost all of your skills and your Ultimate deal extra damage to enemies with [Annotate].

Her general damage is already really high, and with the consistent upgrades to her own incantations and boss-like killer gameplay thanks to [Annotate], she’s one of the best characters available for raids, especially of the Plant afflatus. She also possesses great synergy with Plant, Spirit, and Intellect arcanists thanks to her third passive, giving her [Perusal] if you have 3 or more of the teammates with those Afflatuses. It gives you 1 Moxie to yourself when you cast a rank 2 or 3 incantation, which you will be doing a lot. To round out the review, we'll take a quick overview of all her skills in specific.

Her ultimate, “Next Chapter”, is a mass attack ultimate that deals a lot of damage, extra to enemies with [Annotate] and it even grants yourself +2 Eureka. Another thing it does that I haven't mentioned is you gain a stack of [Preparation - Marcus], which will give you an extra card that can be used or mixed similar to Spathodea. Reading Class is a basic single target damage skill. From the Lantern is a mass attack that does additional damage to enemies with [Annotate] status and inflicts weakness. Marcus is a high-damage dealer who prioritizes inflicting [Annotate] on one enemy to deal extra damage, typically the boss, to also enhance her damage to the next level through self-buffing herself via incantation rank ups.

Pros & Cons

Marcus works fine at P0.

Her best Portraits are P2 and P4, as they both allow her to spam rank 3 incantations more easily.

For F2P and low spenders, P1 is also a significant boost if you can get lucky or afford it, since the initial extra Eureka gain allows an early snowball for Marcus.

As already mentioned, Marcus needs Plant, Intellect and Spirit allies in order to trigger her Insight 3 and make use of her [Perusal] passive. This passive is essential since it’s what allows Marcus to easily cycle her ult and consequently all her other mechanics. As of 1.7, the only dedicated Plant healers are Sotheby and La Source. There aren’t other dedicated defensive options on the other Afflatuses either, making team building for 3-People content in this patch quite tricky.

6 and Druvis are capable of covering the survival aspect through their buffs and passives. Otherwise, you can rely on Sotheby or even La Source for 3-People content. On 4-People content, this slot can be filled like usual by dedicated healers such as Tooth Fairy, Yenisei, and others.

Starting on patch 1.8, Vila will become a staple of Mental teams, and greatly boost Marcus. Patch 1.9 brings Kakania, another great addition that will cover any further needs in the defensive area while also bringing Marcus’ damage (and anyone else’s) to the next level. Finally, at patch 2.0, Mercuria can be a luxury pick if you like her.

Notable synergies include:

6

Druvis III

Isolde

An-an Lee

Future notable synergies:

Vila

Kakania

Mercuria

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Isolde:

Another Story1.7

Blasphemer of Night

His Bounden Duty

“Another Story” is Marcus’s tailored Psychube, and a good option to invest in overall, as it benefits many other DMG dealers and has very high scaling on its Amplifications. If you plan to use Marcus as your Plant DPS for raids, this Psychube is a no-brainer.

Other good options if you don’t have “Another Story” readily available, are “Blasphemer of Night” for a similar boost in Incantation Might (the source of most of Marcus’ DMG), or the ever reliable “His Bounden Duty”. This one can be particularly helpful if you’re struggling to fit a healer in your team comp.

Level 7

Level 9

Level 10

Marcus teams work on a dichotomy of being limited and open at the same time. The only actual rule is that you need, aside from Marcus herself, two other Plant/Intellect/Spirit characters on the team. Under that scope, almost anything can work. Not to mention, while the 4th slot choices suggested here are focused on possible alternatives for the 3-P teams, the 4th slot is actually fair game, and you can bring whoever you want regardless of Afflatus.

Standard Teams

Lectures on Literature [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Sotheby, Isolde, An-An Lee
• For most content 3-P content, 6 or Druvis are enough to keep the team alive while aiding with buffs and debuffs. (Reminder that this only works if Druvis is i3).
• If you’re feeling daunting, Druvis can be replaced by Isolde for a swift sweep of the stage. On the other hand, if you’re struggling with sustain, Sotheby or even La Source may fill in the Sustain slot.
• For the fourth slot, any of the already mentioned characters work, but since Marcus is relatively squishy, 4-People content allow you freedom to bring a more dedicated healer or shielder of your choice.

The Dialogic Imagination[CN]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Isolde, An-An Lee, 6, Mercuria
• The future “ideal” Marcus team, if you wish to prepare ahead.

Natural Supernaturalism [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Avgust, Bkornblume, Diggers
• The budget team. Despite this team being extremely squishy, Zima’s CC and buffs can aid on its survival, as well as maximize La Source’s healing.
• You can mix and match with the 4th slot options depending on who you have available. Needless to say, these are just the cheapest and more easily available choices possible. You can replace any of these characters for higher rarity options already listed on other teams if you have them and wish to do that.